


Betting On You

by cassandrasfisher



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 23:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2206527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassandrasfisher/pseuds/cassandrasfisher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha works for a secret organization. She isn't a full time operative yet. She has a choice to be a full time operative or to get out of the game. To be a full time operative it would mean leaving her old life behind. Will she be able to do it, or will a certain someone change her mind?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Natasha set the suitcase, which she’d had since she was five, on the bed. She headed to the bathroom. It had been a long drive from where she worked. All she wanted was a hot shower and some rest. As soon as she opened the door, she jumped back.  
There was a naked man who had just stepped out of the shower. Her first reaction was to run, but in the next few moments there was something familiar about the man, something very familiar.

  
"Clint."

He turned around and grinned, not caring if she saw him naked or not.

"Nat."

"What are you doing here?"

"I’m here on vacation. What are you doing here?"

"Just figuring out my life. Your parents were kind enough to let me stay here."

"Why are you in my room, to be exact?"

"Didn't want to use your parents’ bathroom and the other bathroom is being renovated. I thought it was best to use yours" Clint said. He watched her. Natasha finally realized he stood there with nothing to cover himself.  
Natasha grabbed a towel and threw it at him. Clint caught the towel and wrapped it around his waist. The look on her face told him she wasn't pleased with him.

"Finish up and get out of my room," Nat said. She went back into her room and unpacked her bag. Natasha felt Clint's eyes on her.

"What?"

"I missed you."

"Don't."

"Why not?"

"Because I am not going through it again."

"Going through what again?" Clint asked her. He really didn't know exactly what had happened between them.

They had been happily engaged. One day out of the blue for him, she gave the ring back and cut him out of her life. It had been three years since they seen one another. He never did find out what had happened between them.

Clint stayed away. It wasn't until he fell on hard times did he ask for help. Right now he was going through a rough time. His family had died in a car accident recently. He needed to stay strong, he had had a support system back then, but she left him. He really had no support system now.

It wasn't like he had someone he trusted enough to tell them everything going on with him. He had a friend, but she only just scraped the top of his life. It was hard for Clint to trust someone fully with his life story. For him it was very hard to say what was on his mind exactly. When he told someone about his life, he edited out a lot of things when telling them about himself.

When Natasha left him it was a reality check for him. He went on living, but he vowed he was going to get her back. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do to get her back.

  
"I’m sure you know what you've done," Natasha said, as she kept her back to Clint. He was confused. He had no idea what Natasha was going on about, but he was going to find out. Right now he knew he needed to let her cool down.

"I'll be in the guest room," Clint told her. There wasn't much he could do right now. Clint walked out of the room and headed for the guest bedroom.  
Clint remembered all the time he’d had with Natasha before whatever took her from him. He really did want to know what had set off the chain of events which tore her from him. He had to admit Natasha did look beautiful after not seeing her for three years.

Clint entered the guest room and sighed. He grabbed a clean pair of underwear and put it on. He lay back on the bed and ran his hands over his face. Things were tough for him now. He knew bottling it up wasn't a good idea. Back in the day Natasha was the one he talked to, but he lost her the day she gave back her engagement ring.

Natasha noticed Clint had left the room. She let out a breath, which she didn't know she’d held. To see him again after all these years, she didn't know what to do. The fact that she was still in love with him, made matters worse. To tear herself away from him all those years ago cut her deeply. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for Clint.

When she found out she knew nothing would be the same again. Natasha didn’t realize until the day when she followed him. She saw him meet with the most dangerous gang in their town. It was when she realized it wasn't a good thing to be around Clint, even if she did love him. Natasha watched as he beat someone up badly. All hope and dreams of Clint and herself being together were shattered at that very moment. Natasha wanted her family safe. The next day she gave the engagement ring back and told Clint to stay away from her family. Of course somehow he didn't heed her warning, because he was here now.

She had to admit Clint did look good after three years. When Natasha was situated then she would go talk to her parents and see exactly what was going on. You never knew when the enemies would show up, so Natasha had her gear from work with her. It was now tucked safely under her bed in a black briefcase.

Clint wasn't the guy she had met in high school. He had changed and not for the better. Clint joined a gang and his gang had beaten her older brother to death. Natasha was sure it wasn't the real story. One of these days she would find out the real story. For whatever had happened, it was one of those things she would never forgive. Her brother was a good person and he would never associate himself with a gang. She had a feeling Clint had lured her brother into being a part of a scheme or something, it went wrong, and her older brother paid the price.

Natasha shut her door and locked it so no one could enter her room unannounced. She turned on the hot water and stepped in. She let the hot water cascade off her body. She knew she had to wash up quickly. If she let herself relax she would remember her time with Clint. All her time with Clint wasn't bad, but right now it wasn't something she wanted to reminisce over. Natasha finished her shower and cleaned her tub out.  
  
It almost took her, the memories of back in the day when she and Clint were happy. Before any more memories could surface she shook her head. It didn't take her long to clean up. The grumble from her stomach reminded her she hadn't eaten since last night.

She made her way down to the kitchen. Her father sat at the kitchen table, newspaper in hand. Her mother was chopping celery for the stew. Natasha smiled to herself. Her parents were happy, which meant she was happy.

"Hey," Natasha said. Her father looked up at her. Natasha moved over to her father’s side and gave him a kiss on the forehead.  
  
"Hello, sweetheart. How’s everything?" Mr. Romanoff asked.

"Everything is going well," Natasha said. Her father gave her a hug and when he let her go she made her way over to her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, mom."

"If you're hungry, there are fruit bars in the cupboard."

Her mother didn't surprise her one bit. Natasha knew her mother knew her well.

"Thanks," Natasha said.

She went over to the cupboard and got one of the bars out, moving to sit at the table so she could eat it.

"So when were you two going to tell me about Clint?" Natasha asked. There was a brief pause in what her parents were doing. Then they went back doing what they were doing.

"He needed a little help and we couldn't turn him away," Mrs. Romanoff told her. Natasha wondered exactly what was going on to have Clint here at her home. There wasn't any time for her to ask, though, because Clint walked into the kitchen.

"Mrs. Romanoff, is there anything I can do to help?" Clint asked. Mrs. Romanoff looked at him.

"Sure. You can help cut the carrots."

They watched as Clint washed his hands, and then went to get the cutting board and knife.

He set up next to Mrs. Romanoff. Clint grabbed the carrots and he began to cut them. Natasha just watched them work. There was something about Clint; she couldn't put her finger on it at the moment.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Natasha said. She caught Clint's eyes. The thing was, she couldn't read them. Now it started to unnerve her. She moved to the door and opened it.  
There stood her good friend Pepper Potts. Natasha hadn’t even been home for an hour and her good friend knew she was there. Natasha wondered how Pepper hadknown she was home.

"Natasha, what are you doing here?" Pepper asked her.

"Pepper, I’m just home for a little while. Can I ask what are you doing here?" Natasha asked.

"I am here to see Clint," Pepper said as she watched her friend's reaction when she said his name. Natasha froze for a brief second, but then she acted fine.

"Why exactly are you here to see Clint, if you don’t mind me asking?"

"It's personal. I can't say anything. It's between Clint and I," Pepper told her. She wasn’t able to give Natasha the real reason she was there. Natasha wasn’t cleared to know. She would have been read in if she had married Clint, but that hadn’t happened. So she wasn’t cleared to know anything about Clint now. Natasha knew she was right. Natasha had given up any right to know about Clint's well-being when she returned the engagement ring to him.

"Okay, he's in the kitchen with my parents," Natasha said. She moved aside so Pepper could enter. Pepper entered and headed back to the kitchen. She thought it would be a good idea to leave the house for a while. Right now, she needed to think.

"Hey, mom I am going out for a while. I will be back in a bit," Natasha called over her shoulder. It took a moment before she heard her mother's answer.

"Okay, dear. Dinner’s going to be in a couple of hours," Mrs. Romanoff said. Natasha closed the door and she started to walk.  
Pepper got to the kitchen and said hello to Mr. and Mrs. Romanoff, then she turned her attention to Clint. He nodded his head. He got up and they both headed to the study. The door was shut so they wouldn’t be disturbed. They both took a seat on the couch there.

“So Clint, is there anything you want to talk about?” Pepper asked. This was a meeting between friends. Director Fury wanted to make sure all the agents were physically and mentally fit for duty. For now the agents weren’t required to check in with her, but if things started to get worse then he would require them to see her.  
Clint was different. He had cpme to her and asked to have the session. She felt he was making her his temporary anchor. He told her things, but she knew he wasn’t sharing all of himself with her. It would probably take a long time before he shared everything with her. Baby steps were what was happening. Once he felt comfortable enough with her then he would open up more. It would be progress.

“Natasha’s back,” Clint whispered.

“How does that make you feel?”

“I’m not sure. I am glad she’s back, but I still wonder, why exactly did we break up? There are so many unanswered questions I want to ask her, but I don’t want to run the risk of losing her again.”

Pepper grimaced. Natasha coming home wasn’t expected and she had no idea how this would affect him. She knew Clint was strong and he would be able to handle whatever came his way, but when it came to Natasha it was a delicate situation. Pepper knew he was still in love with her. A little time passed by while they sat quietly. Clint looked up.

“Pepper, thanks for being her to let me talk,” Clint said. Pepper knew the session was over.

“I’m here if you need me,” Pepper told him. They went to the front door so she could leave. Once Pepper was gone he started back to the kitchen. Before he got there the doorbell rang. Clint turned back around and headed to answer the door.

Natasha let her feet do the walking. When she looked up she found herself at the park where Clint and herself had played. Natasha sat down on one of the swings. She moved it back and forth a bit. Her life was dangerous and she wasn't going to bring anyone else into her life, especially Clint. It was time to let Clint go. All her thoughts of him had to be pushed back. She had a job to do. Natasha had to let go of her old life, to start her new life.

Everyone she knew was going to miss her, but it had to be done. In her field there wasn’t going to have any connection to anything or anyone. In the final process all her emotions were going to be wiped away, meaning all her connection to people she knew and loved would be gone.

Everything went through her mind as she just sat there. Lexar had recruited her a week after her brother had died. They told her his death was a part of a bigger plan. If she wanted to protect her family then she would have to become a full agent to keep her family safe. They had showed her evidence which backed up what they said.

She had agreed to this. Since then things had started to come together. Now it was time to say goodbye to this life to save her family.  
A beep from her watch startled her. It told her it was time to get back home for dinner. Natasha wasn't sure how she was going to handle dinner. The table in the kitchen was small and had enough room to sit four people at it. One way or another, she was going to be near Clint. Natasha made it back to her house without any problems. When she entered the house, the smell of food brought her to the kitchen. Before she reached the kitchen there were three other voices along with her parents and Clint. Pepper's voice wasn't one of them. She wondered who was there.  
 _  
_


	2. Chapter 2

There were six people in the kitchen area. When she saw the three other people in her kitchen she froze for a second. This wasn't good. Right now the best thing she had going for her was to pretend she didn't know the three guests in front of her.

"Natasha, dear, good you’re home. We have guests for dinner," Mrs. Romanoff said. Natasha saw the one on the middle was tall and lean and had a scar on his left cheek. Natasha knew him as Anthony McGill. He was one of the top criminals and her agency wanted him dead. Now he was in her court, so to speak. When she had a moment she would have to report in. She mentally sighed. ‘There goes my vacation,' Natasha thought to herself.

The man on McGill’s left side was a heavyset man with spectacles. The spectacles were somewhat dark. She couldn't see his eyes; there was something with those shades which made her uneasy. She had intel on him. Charles Farnsworth was the man on McGill’s right side. The man was tiny, but dangerous. Her intel told her that this man was dangerous no matter what his size was.

"Okay. Are we going to grab the other table?" Natasha asked even as she noticed the other table was already in place. There were seven places set out for each of them. The food was set on the table. Now Tasha wanted to protect her family and Clint. She needed to put herself in between the bad guys and Clint and her parents.

After a few moments they were all seated around the table. Clint had pulled out her chair. She sat down and was pushed towards the table a couple of inches. Natasha gave a small smile to Clint. He was still a gentleman, even after everything that happened. Her eyes rested on the three new guests. Clint noticed something was up with Natasha, but he didn't say anything. Clint went to the seat next to her. Natasha's father sat on the other side of him.

"Can I ask exactly what you guys are here for?" Natasha asked quietly. McGill looked at her cautiously.

"We are going to hire Clint. We could use his skill in a few issues," McGill said. Natasha could see from the corner of her eyes Clint gave her a look. Her main focus was McGill. Of course, she kept her guard up.

"What exactly what would he be doing?" Natasha asked.

"Well, he would be my personal guard," McGill said as he took a bite of the stew.

"When will I start work?" Clint asked casually. McGill swallowed the food in his mouth.

Then he looked over at Clint.

"You can start working immediately, if you would like," McGill told him.

"Thank you, sir."

"We can have you do a test run tonight if you would like," McGill said as he looked over at Natasha to see her reaction. Natasha could feel McGill's eyes on her so she didn't do anything which would give her away. Clint’s eyes were on her also, but she just took a bite of her food like nothing was happening.  
McGill continued eating as well as the other two with him. Clint knew there was something wrong with Natasha, but he couldn't say anything about it right at the moment.

"This is delicious," Clint said as he looked at Mrs. Romanoff.

"Thank you dear, are you going to take the test run?" Mrs. Romanoff asked.

"Yes, I think I will," Clint said.

"Good…when dinner is done we will start your training."

"Yes sir."

Natasha didn't like Clint leaving with McGill, but she couldn't say anything or it would blow her cover. She continued to eat and she listened to the conversation. Natasha was quiet for the rest of the conversation. They finished eating.

"I have enjoyed this meal. Thank you for the dinner," McGill said. Clint went to his room and grabbed his jacket. Then he followed them out the door.

Mrs. Romanoff started to clear the table. Natasha got the dishwater ready. When the water was ready she started to wash them. A few moments passed by before her mother said anything.

"Natasha, dear. You were quiet during dinner tonight. Is anything wrong?"

"No, everything was fine."

"I am here if you want to talk about anything."

Natasha was silent for a moment. This was as good of a time as any to find out about Clint.

"I am just wondering about Clint. How long was he here before I arrived?"

"He has been here for a couple of days."

"Okay, so how long has he been in contact with you guys?"

"He hasn't been in contact with us. We haven't heard from him in three years. With what happened with his family it brought him to us."

"What happened to his family?"

"His family was killed in a car accident a week ago."

Natasha was shocked at the news; he must have been going through a hard time. He had listened to her. Clint actually had stayed away, but losing his first family, he went to his second family for help. Natasha couldn't fault him for that, but she wasn't helping the matter any. Natasha continued to wash the dishes and she was quiet the whole time.

"Oh."

"You okay?"

"I’m good, mom. I don't know. My emotions are all over the place."

"You still love him?”

"Yes, I do."

"Why did you leave him?”

"I can't say. I am not going to put you guys through the pain. I want to find out the truth first." Natasha said. She made a decision to find out the truth for herself first before she said anything to her parents.

"It doesn't matter what it is, we want to know about it."

"I know, but I want to make sure I get my facts straight first before telling you guys," Natasha said, glancing away for a second.

"Okay, let's finish the dishes."

Natasha and Mrs. Romanoff finished the dishes. They talked about other things. Natasha knew she had to call her boss. The dishes were done, so she told her parents she was tired and was going to lay down. When she got to her room she immediately went to the briefcase and opened it.  
She put the earwig in her right ear and then waited a second before it came to life.

"Agent 82, we didn't expect you to contact us on your vacation before you joined us for good," the voice on the other end of the earwig said.

"Sir, I have confirmation of McGill."

"Where did you see him, Agent?"

"I saw him at my home."

"Why was he there?"

"He was recruiting someone I know to work for him."

"Who did he recruit?"

"Clint Barton."

"Is he going to be a problem?"

"No, sir. If he is, I will take care of him." Natasha said. Of course she wasn't going to kill him. If he died she could never truly live without him. She knew her parents wouldn’t understand the bond she shared with him. Clint was the other half of her. Her life without Clint was no life at all.

"Good. We want McGill brought in for questioning."

"Yes sir," Natasha replied. The earwig went dead. She took it out and put it back in the briefcase. Her gun she placed under the pillow on her bed. She was going to protect her family. Natasha considered Clint her family as well. Even though they weren't talking to one another. She did miss him a lot.

Clint was not sure where McGill was taking him, but he knew he needed to have him become an informant for S.H.I.E.L.D. He had been an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. since he was sixteen. They had recruited him due to his archery skill. Everything was going well until Natasha broke up with him. He mentally shook his head. He needed to focus on the mission. He needed to bring in McGill.

If he asked him to kill others then he would have to do it. If he didn't, he would blow his cover. The other mission he had was to bring down the organization called Lexar. They were more into killing anything which they thought wasn't right. It wasn't a good thing. A few S.H.I.E.L.D. missions had come to a standstill because of them. They had to be stopped. Clint was going to be the one to stop them.

"Clint, we need you to do a few jobs for us," McGill said.

"What sort of jobs?" Clint asked.

"We need you to kill a few people."

"Who, to be exact?"

McGill handed him a folder. Clint took it and opened it. When he saw the first picture his mouth went dry.


	3. Chapter 3

 

"Can I ask why you want this person killed?" Clint asked. His heart was racing a little faster as he saw who the target was.

"We want her killed because she is an agent of an organization we need to rid ourselves of," McGill said.

"What organization is that, sir?" Clint asked. He hoped he wasn't about to say the one he worked for. If he did, he was sure it was a test for him; he was not going to react to it.

"Lexar. They have been a thorn in our side for a while now. They need to be dealt with."

"What if we could get her to defect to our side?" Clint said thoughtfully. McGill looked over at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if we could get her on our side, I think we could do more work in less time," Clint said. McGill thought for a moment. There was no way Clint would take this target out.

"I want you to bring her in. If she doesn't come in, then you will eliminate her. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir.”

"Now you will take out the others in the file," McGill said as he watched Clint look at the rest of the photo in the files. He would have to kill the two people in the photos or else he risked blowing his cover. "I am giving you twenty-four hours to kill these two people and get Miss Romanoff on our side."

"Yes, sir," Clint said. He moved over to the door.

“Good, but do it now.”

Clint headed back to the Romanoff house. His mind was going over the information. Natasha was an agent of the organization he was going to shut down. Clint made his way to the park where he and Natasha had played. He sat down on the swing. He looked out into the night. There were things he needed to get out in the open. He needed to sort things out with Natasha first.

He knew it would be good to go and get started on the job McGill gave him. He had been able to kill since he was young. He had kept sane with Natasha's help. Three years ago his sanity was pushed to the edge. Just the thought of Natasha had kept him from going over the edge. He wanted his safety net back – no, it was more like he needed it.

It was time to get down to business. Clint got up and walked back to the house. He made it to the house without any incident. He went to his room and took off his leather jacket and hung it up in the closet. He felt her presence near him. He took a breath before turning around.  
She was standing in the doorway. She was wearing white socks and black sweatpants. The thing that got him was that she wore his sweatshirt. Just seeing her in his sweatshirt made him think he wanted to have her in his arms right now. All he knew was that she wasn't happy with him and it wouldn't be easy to earn her trust.

"How are you?" Natasha asked.

"I am doing okay. How are you?"

"I’m doing alright. Just heard about your family."

"Oh…."

"I talked to my mother and I found out you did stay away, but I am not going to apologize for what I did three years ago."

"I am sorry for anything I did to do to upset you."

"I want an explanation for what you did," Natasha demanded.

"What exactly did I do to lose you?"

"Meet and join the most dangerous gang in the town. Then you go and beat someone close to death."

"You followed me," Clint stated.

"Yes. You dragged my brother into one of the gang operations and then you got him killed. I want to know why," Natasha said.  
Clint knew why he had lost her. He had to tell her the truth, but it was going to blow his cover. He knew Natasha would need time to digest the information.

"Natasha, what I am about to tell you is going to probably get me in major trouble."

"What do you mean?"

She could tell Clint was weighed down heavily with a lot of things. She didn't know exactly what he was bogged down with. Just by the look on his face, Natasha could tell something wasn’t right with him.

“The boss at my job will probably assign me to desk duty for this. I just need to get this off my chest."

"What are you talking about? you don't have a job?" Natasha said.

"I’ve have a job since I was a junior in high school."

"What!" Natasha exclaimed.

"Your brother was my partner."

"He worked as a guard for New Tech Guardian," Natasha claimed.

"No, he was -" Clint started, as Natasha placed her index finger on Clint's lips to stop him from talking. Natasha moved over to her radio and turned it on. She turned it up just a bit. She walked over to him and started to pat him down. Clint raised an eyebrow. Natasha mouthed bug to him.  
When Natasha found the bug she took it off of Clint’s shirt and dropped it to the ground and stomped on it. Only then did she turn the radio off.

"What was that about?"

"You were bugged," Natasha told him. She moved an inch closer to him. "Exactly who is your boss?"

"Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Directorate or S.H.I.E.L.D. for short."

Natasha knew of S.H.I.E.L.D. from her bosses. The department had caused her organization trouble. She couldn't believe he was working for the enemy. This made her more cautious with Clint, though he didn’t seen to be on alert with her, but she didn’t have her gun on her.

"You worked for the organization Lexar. I've been sent to take them down and to take down McGill."

"So did McGill send you to kill me?"

"Yes, but I changed his mind. I asked him to let me turn you to his side."

"Did S.H.I.E.L.D. send you to kill me?"

"No, they sent me to close down Lexar," Clint told her honestly.

Natasha studied him carefully. It took her a second to realize he was telling her the truth.

"Okay."

Natasha and Clint stood there and looked at each other. The old feelings Natasha had tried so hard to bury burst forth as they held each other’s gaze. The connection they had had seemed to reignite. Natasha moved towards him and then their lips met. Natasha wrapped her arm around his neck, and almost immediately Clint's arms wrapped around her waist.

Charles Farnsworth took off the headphones on his ears, the bug Clint wore having been disabled.

 _'Damn,"_ Charles thought. He knew there was something about him that he didn't like. He would have to figure out what he didn’t like about Clint a different way. He definitely didn’t trust him. For now since he had no eyes and no ears on Barton, he headed back to report in.


	4. Chapter 4

  
It did feel good to be back in Natasha’s embrace. He had truly missed it. Everything seemed to be going back to normal. Of course, he knew it wasn’t going to last. Natasha wanted the truth from him. He was going to let her know what was happening with him. It would be good for him to get to talk about what was really going on with himself. Time didn’t matter to him when he was with Natasha. All he knew at the moment was that he felt safe.  
He knew he would have to leave that feeling soon. He had a mission to complete. They were in his bed completely naked under the covers. The door to his room was closed, and he was glad for that. Natasha had her hand on his chest. She looked at him.

“Clint.”

“Yes.”

“What’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You need someone to talk to. I know you keep things bottled up. It’s not good for you. You need a release. Just talk to me.”

“Nat, I can’t.”

“Clint, I am not going to sit by and let you self-destruct.”  
Clint had wanted to scream at her, but he’d decided against doing that. If he did what he wanted to do at the moment it would end up in a fight. Things wouldn’t go well after that. He had a mission to complete.

“Why do you care?” Clint asked. He just looked at her. Her hazel eyes looked back at him, and in them there was a bit of hurt. It was a minute before she answered.

“Clint. I have always loved you, always will. I’m still in love with you. To see you hurting like this, it makes me hurt as well. You are my other half. I never should have given the engagement ring back. At the time it was the only option I could think of to keep my family safe,” Natasha told him. She made sure she looked him straight in the eyes. He could tell everything she was telling him was true.

They had a lot of work to do to get their relationship back to where it had been before. Even then it wouldn’t be the same. Clint knew she was telling the truth. He knew she still loved him. Truth was, he was still in love with her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect Natasha. If he had to crawl through broken glass to prove to others that he was indeed willing to go to any length to protect her, he would. It was then he decided he would let her know what was going on with him. He glanced away from her. She brought his attention back to her with a kiss on the lips.

“Nat, I have been a killer since I was nine. I fell in with a bad crowd. I was able to get out with the help of my brother Barney. It took a while and a lot of therapy sessions to deal with me killing someone with my bow and arrow. I was able, with the help of my family, to grow up normal. I went to school, had friends. We met when I was a freshman and you were still in middle school, about to be a freshman in high school. Not long after, S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited me to work for them,” Clint started he moved to a sitting position.

Natasha sat up and let him move. Then she sat next to him. It wasn’t long before she saw the scars on his back, scars that had been left by a whip. She was going to find out what had happened for him to get those. Natasha held the covers from the bed to cover the front of her body. She waited for him to continue his story.

“I told them I would. I started to train with them. I wasn’t able to say anything to you. You seemed to understand and give me my space. I was glad for that. When I finally got up to courage to ask you to marry me I was sent on a mission to save an ambassador’s daughter from the enemy. I got captured and tortured. They used a whip and whipped me for a few days. It wasn’t until one of my captors left the door to my cell open did I escape and save the ambassador’s daughter.”  
So the two weeks he was gone on vacation, he was sent on a mission. Natasha didn’t like that one bit. She didn’t like the fact that she didn’t know what was going on in Clint’s life. She was glad he was sharing himself with her. Natasha used one hand to gently rub Clint’s back.

“When you gave my engagement ring back, my world was shattered. I tried to figure out what I had done wrong. I didn’t want to hurt you anymore, so I did what you asked. Even if it hurt me more than you know. It was when my family died that I get in contact with them again. I know you said not to, but they are the only family I have now. Family is what I needed at the moment.”

Natasha knew Clint just needed to talk and get it all out of his system. She was going to wait until he was done talking, and then it would be her turn to talk. It was how they created a stronger bond with one another. They trusted one another with their souls. Telling each other what they would never tell other people.

“I am still punishing myself for your brother’s death. It was my fault that he died. Riley was my best friend and he was like a brother to me. I was to be there, but Mr. Greene wanted me to stay behind and go over the English assignment. I couldn’t get away. Riley went in my place for one of the deals. I got there five minutes after the deal was done. Riley had been shot and he lay dying on the ground. I called 911 and stayed with him until he passed away. He gave me his blessing to marry before he died. I checked his pocket and found the disk he hid to record everything. I listened to it. Somehow they found out he was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and that was what got him killed.”

Natasha knew Clint was sensitive when it came to her. She didn’t realize he was blaming himself for her brother’s death. She just hoped he didn’t get it his mind that his family’s death was also his fault. Accidents happened and he should not put blame on himself when it wasn’t his fault. If he thought that, she was sure as hell going to knock some sense into him.

“I am so sorry for what I did to your family. If we had never met, then your brother would still be alive.”

“Clint, look at me,” Natasha softly said. Clint looked at her. “Don’t say that. If we never met, then things would be different. I like how things are now. I miss my brother, but if he was alive what would he say if he saw you like this?”  
Clint looked at her. To know the fact she never thought of him not being in her life made him happy on the inside.

“He would tell me get up off my ass and start acting like an agent.”

“Good.”

Nat knew it was her turn to talk. Clint moved his arm around her to move her closer to him. She let him. He then kissed her the side of her head.

“Clint, after I broke up with you and my family had time to grieve over losing Riley, Lexar recruited me. I have been on many missions and killed quite a few people to get to where I am now. This vacation I am taking is for me to say my good-bye and take care of anything I need to before I become a full agent of Lexar. Once I am a full member then my emotions are going to be wiped. They do that so their agents can be the best that they can be.”  
Natasha could feel Clint stiffen a bit.

“It’s not going to happen.”

“I know once you close them down then I will be free of them. I will have to go back to my regular life. Not sure how I am going to survive that.”

“You’ll get through it. What am I saying is, we’ll get through whatever is thrown our way,” Clint told her. He looked at the time. He needed to get these two kills done. When he did, then and only then could he focus on her situation. If anything, he was going to get her to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside him. They made a great team.


	5. Chapter 5

 

“Boss, there is something not right about Clint Barton,” Charles said as he walked into his boss’ office. McGill looked up at him.

“Why do you say that?” McGill asked him.

“The bug I put on him is disabled.”

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Sir.”

“Don’t. I trust him to do what is needed to be done. Let me remind you. If you keep pursuing this, then you will be no use to me.”

It was then that Charles shut his mouth. He didn’t want to be dead. Anthony went back to what he was doing, so Charles left. He wanted to know more about Clint so he headed to the control room where the computers were. It would be good to get something so he could kill Clint. He sure as hell didn’t trust him at all. If he could get his boss to see that Clint was bad news then he was doing his job. He needed to tread carefully on this subject. If he was able to get what he needed then it would make his day.

Once he was there, he sat down at the main computer terminal. He decided to do a basic search to see what he could find out. He typed Clinton Francis Barton into the search engine. He hit enter on the keyboard and it took a few moments before the search came up with something.  
It was just basic information. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary with it. There was nothing that would point him to anything wrong with Clint’s information. He was about to close the database down when he noticed there was a two year gap where it would seem he didn’t have a digital footprint. He then decided to dig a little deeper. It meant he would have to do some legwork. He was up for it as long. As Clint ended up dead as the result, he would be good.

Clint looked over at Natasha. He was going to free her from Lexar. He was going to have to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. to see if they could help make it looked like he killed the two people McGill had told him to kill without really killing them.

Both Clint and Natasha got up. They knew they had to get moving if they wanted to bring down McGill and his associates. It didn’t take them long to get dressed. Clint looked at her as he took out his cellphone. Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“I have to check in now,” Clint told her as he dialed the number to reach his boss. He sat on the bed. Then he started to talk to whoever was on the other line. As Clint talked to the other person on the line, Natasha noticed he was getting tense. She moved behind him and started to massage his shoulder. After a few seconds, he started to relax. She had done this for him a few times when he couldn’t get out of a conversation he had on the phone. It was a few more minutes before Clint hung the phone up.

“So….how’d it go?” Natasha asked as she bit her bottom lip.

“Well they are going to help to kill the guys,” Clint said as he put his hands up to put the word kill in quotation mark. “My boss wasn’t happy when I told him you knew about me. He said that we were going to have a long talk. Then after that, all three of us are going to sit down for a meeting.”  
Natasha didn’t like the fact that he got chewed out because of her. When they did sit down to talk, she was going to have to let Clint’s boss know how it was between them. Well some of what it was for them….she wasn’t going to tell him everything dealing with Clint and herself.

“Okay. So when are we meeting your team?” Natasha asked. She hoped his boss trusted her enough to let her work with Clint and his team. If not, she wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

“My boss didn’t want you to work with us, but I convinced him it would be a good idea. I know when we’re together as we can get a lot more done than when we’re not a team.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“We’d better get moving. We’re meeting at a warehouse in the business district,” Clint told her He gathered what he needed for the mission. Natasha went and got her gear as well. They headed out and it didn’t take them long to get to where they needed to go.  
When they entered the warehouse, there wasn’t a lot there. A few tables were set up with equipment spread out on them. There were a few other people who wore S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms. A man walked up to them.

“Barton, what’d you do this time to piss off the boss?” the man asked.

“None of your business, Stark.” Clint told him. Tony Stark was their weapons specialist. Tony then noticed Natasha.

“Who’s the hot babe?” Tony asked. Natasha saw Clint’s hands were open, but as soon as Tony made that comment she saw his hands closed into a fist. She knew he was about to punch Tony for his comment. Natasha did the only thing she could think of. Natasha turned to Tony and slapped him.

“I am not a hot babe. I suggest you remember not to call me that or you could find yourself in a ditch with no way out,” Natasha sharply said.  
Tony just looked at Natasha as she walked away from him. He then rubbed where she had slapped him. It stung. He turned his attention to Clint, who watched Natasha.  
“She’s a firecracker,” Tony softly said, so as not to end up getting slapped again.

“I know.”

Natasha looked over the weapons on the table. She let out a whistle. some of the weapons there weren’t even for public use. Stark probably had the connections to get them without any trouble at all.  
The other agents gathered around the table where Natasha stood. Everyone looked at Clint.

“Alright, I know we are supposed to shut down Lexar, but we have a chance to get one of the men most wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D., so we are going to use it. McGill wanted me to kill two people, a Mr. Carson Xavier and Mrs. Samantha Xavier. I have no idea why he wants me to kill them, but I have a suspicion they threaten his business. I am going to call them and explain the situation. We can get ready to get moving,” Clint said as he explained in detail what was going to happen.

Natasha watched Clint as he talked. She liked seeing him like this. Once all the instructions were given everything started to move to set things up for McGill’s capture.  
Natasha saw Clint pull out his cellphone and dial a number. She knew exactly who he was calling. She hoped everything went off without a hitch. Of course she was trained to deal it with if the mission went sideways.

It wasn’t long until everything was set. They all knew what their duties were. It was close to show time. If Clint didn’t kill the target then he would probably be killed instead. Natasha wasn’t going to let that happen at all. She still loved Clint and nothing was going to change that. She of course was going to tell her parents as close to the truth as she could get about her brother’s death and Clint’s involvement with the whole ordeal. Once everything was settled she would know how to go about telling her parents what had happened with her brother’s death.

Clint was still on the phone with the Xaviers. She wasn’t sure exactly what he was saying, but she had an idea. Natasha waited until he got off the phone before approaching him.

“Is everything okay?” Natasha asked him.

“Yes. We are going to meet them in two hours,” Clint told her.

“So do you need any help?” Natasha asked. Clint looked her. He was glad she was there. He wanted to make sure he protected her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. He knew about Lexar and that they were going to erase her emotions. He wasn’t going to let that happen. She was his soulmate and if she died then there would be no reason to live. He had gotten a taste of not having her in his life. It wasn’t a good feeling and he never wanted to experience the feeling again. He didn’t know how she felt about him. He was going to let her tell him.

“Yes, you know we make a great team together. We will get you out of Lexar. Then we can talk….” Clint started as he moved a little closer to Natasha “A real talk.”  
Natasha knew he meant a real talk. It meant he would tell her more about what his life was all about.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Well they have agreed to help fake their deaths. So we are heading over there right now to set it up.”

“Okay, let me know when we are ready to go.”

“I was going to head out right now. Only after I let the others know what’s going on,” Clint said as he made his way to the others and told them the plan. Natasha suited up. She made sure she was armed. Natasha wasn’t going to let anything happen to Clint, and she knew Clint wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Clint and Natasha got into the car and drove away, they headed to the house of the people who Clint was going to kill. It was night time and the headlights were the only thing that provided light for the dark road. Natasha needed to know what the plan was. If this was going to work then they needed to know what each knew.  
Before she left him, Natasha and Clint could hold a whole conversation by just looking at one another. Since they had been apart she didn’t know if that was still working or not. When they got a chance she would make sure to see if it was still with them. It would be disappointing if they did lose it. It didn’t take them to long to get to the victims’ home. Carson and Samantha met them as soon as they arrived.

“Hello. You must be the ones they sent to kill me and my wife.” Carson said, as he shook Clint’s hand.

“We will not let that happen. You know what will happen once this is done, right?” Clint asked. He wanted to make sure they understood exactly what was happening to them. Samantha was by Carson’s side. Her hand rested on her stomach. Clint glanced over at Natasha who caught his look. Natasha knew that by Clint doing this for them their child would have a better life than the one they had, which had them running away from mob type people.

“We know after tonight there will be no contact with our old life. If we want to get away from this life, then that is the price we have to pay,” Samantha said. Carson wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug.

“We are going to be using blank bullets so you won’t get hurt. We will get you set up and then we will play it out. Then once everything settles down after the hit, you will be moved to a safe location while we get everything else finished. Once you leave there, then your new life will start,” Clint explained to them.  
Both Carson and Samantha nodded their heads. Once they got the instruction out of the way they got to work. It wasn’t too long before the Xaviers were off to their new life. The death pictures of the Xaviers were sent to McGill. All Clint had to do was wait until he got contacted with future instructions. Everything had gone as planned.

Clint and Natasha got back to the house. All the lights were off so it meant her parents were already sleeping. They approached the house. Immediately Natasha could tell something was wrong. It didn’t matter to her if she got hurt, the only thing going through her mind right now was her parents. She rushed into her house without saying a word to Clint. He followed behind her. When she got to her parents’ room, the door was closed, she slowly opened the door.

“Mom, Dad,” Natasha said with a shaky voice. She got no answer. Her hand hesitated once it got to the light switch. She flicked the switch up. What she saw stunned her. There on the bed were her parents’ dead bodies. Their throats had been sliced.

Tears filled her eyes. She turned towards Clint and buried her face in his shirt. It was then she let the tears flow. Clint stood there stunned. His family had died and now the people who he considered his second parents had been murdered. He was concerned. How this was going to affect Natasha?  
Neither of them knew how long they were standing there. Clint knew it would be a good idea if this got taken care of immediately. He wasn’t sure if he should call the police or his boss. He had a feeling it might have something to do with McGill. If it did and he didn’t call his boss then it wouldn’t be too good for him. If it did and he called his boss and it didn’t have anything to do with McGill then it wouldn’t be good for him. Either way he lost. He got out his phone and called his boss.

“Phil, I need Riverland,” Clint said. He hoped Phil didn’t ask why he was using that particular code now.

“Give me ten minutes,” Phil told him. He hung the phone up and made the necessary call to get the ball rolling. Phil wondered exactly what happened. Riverland was only used in dire situation. He would definitely talk to Clint and find out what had happen.  
Natasha cried into his shirt until the ambulance got there and took her parent’s bodies away. Things went smoothly with everything that followed. This was treated like an investigation and it was ruled an invasion of the home and her parents were killed. It was the official story for the world. The real story was known to S.H.I.E.L.D. and to Clint and Natasha.

This was murder and the more they looked into it, it seemed like this wasn’t a random attack. Clint found a lighter which had been dropped by the killer. The thing was, he had seen this particular lighter before. The lighter was a zippo with a black shark on both sides. The only person who he knew had a lighter like this was Charles, who was McGill’s right hand man. Clint was going to make sure that McGill paid for killing Natasha’s parents.  
Natasha was quiet. It wasn’t a good thing to let her be quiet for much longer. He knew she was planning a way to avenge her parents’ deaths. He was going to help her with avenging their death. Everyone was now gone, it was only them in the house. Natasha sat at the table in the kitchen. Clint put the chair in front of her and sat down. He looked at her.

“Natasha, sweetheart, talk to me,” Clint said. He took her hands in his. Natasha didn’t say anything for a minute. Then she looked up at him.

“We are bringing them in. They will pay for killing my parents,” Natasha told him. Clint gave her a smile. That was his girl. She was smart and knew what to do. He knew she could take care of herself. Right now he needed a plan to bring in McGill and his gang. It had to be a plan they couldn’t see coming. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to bring Natasha in on the planning, but he knew if he didn’t she would be pissed at him. At this moment he needed her as much as she needed him.

“Clint, I think we should take them down on their own turf,” Natasha said to him.

“What’s your plan?” Clint asked.

“When he tells you to meet him next we need it to be somewhere where your team can be. We will both be carrying weapons just in case he tries anything. It’s going to go down without any issues. Once we get him then I can deal with the death of my parents,” Natasha told him quietly. He knew when she used this voice she meant business.

“Okay, we’ll get him for doing this,” Clint told her, silently adding ‘to us.’ He wasn’t going to say it out loud due to the fact he didn’t know how solid their connection was. They had just gotten back together and he didn’t want to sabotage it by saying something only to have her take it the wrong way. “Let’s get going.”

There were not many places which were open at the time of night it was. It was a little after midnight. McGill had gotten the pictures of Clint’s kills and he had a smile on his face. Now he could go forward with his plan. Since Clint was killing for him now, he wouldn’t mind taking out a few more targets for him. He had five more people he needed to take care of. This time it was going to be taking out a whole family. Now that he had Clint, he was going to accelerate his plans. McGill got out his phone and typed a message to Clint telling him to meet him at an abandoned warehouse. He was going to have his whole crew there. It was time to go all in. He was going to have the monopoly on the crime world. All he needed at the moment was to know everything was going right, which it was. He sent out a message to his crew telling them to meet him at the abandoned warehouse.

The message came and Clint looked over at Natasha, who looked at the message over his shoulder. Their plan was going to go off without an issue. It didn’t take long for them to get everyone in place. This was going to be a good bust. Clint was going to close this mission out sooner than he thought. He would be glad when this mission was over. It would give him time to help Natasha with what she was going through right now. Right at that moment he needed his mind at the task at hand. Everything was ready to go. His team was in position, and as soon as he gave the signal they would round up McGill and his gang and it would be the end of them.

Clint and Natasha walked into the abandoned warehouse. They saw about ten people there. They did wonder if that was everyone in McGill’s gang. If it wasn’t, then they would have to go after the others after they caught everyone here.

McGill saw Clint and Natasha walk in. He smiled as they got to where he was at. They took up spots around the table.

“Now since everyone is here we can proceed,” McGill told them. He took a moment to look at each one of the people around the table. “Since Clint here has taken care of our problem we can get down to business. We are going to start moving the merchandise later on today.”  
Everyone nodded their head. Clint looked over at Natasha for a moment. The slightest movement and she knew what he was conveying to her. This was going to be done soon. McGill would be put behind bars. McGill clapped his hand after a few moments there was a young woman who came through from the side of the warehouse. She looked frightened.

“This is Lily. She will be going to Heathcliff, who lives in Africa. He paid rather handsomely for her. We have three containers at the docks which will be going out tonight,” McGill told them.

“Are we going to be there to help make sure things go off without a hitch?” Clint asked. He wanted to know where the containers were before he broke up this raid. Charles eyed Clint. If Clint noticed he didn’t let it faze him.

“You’ll be getting the information sent to your phone in a few minutes with the location.”

“Boss I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Charles told him. McGill gave him a look. It told him to shut his mouth, or he would end up getting hurt. Charles looked at him back and just shrugged and then sat back in his seat.

If they got busted, which he had a feeling would happen, he would give up the information so he wouldn’t go to prison. He wanted to live his life even if it was as someone else. If he escaped he would be on the run and would be looking over his shoulder everyday. It was something he did not want to happen. The meeting went on.

Natasha glanced at Clint every so often to make sure he was okay. The things they were told were somewhat hard to swallow. McGill was a human trafficker. It wasn’t something Natasha ever wanted to be involved in. It was good thing McGill was going to be brought down tonight. It was a good thing they were going to bring him to justice. It was a couple of minutes later when Clint’s phone beeped. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the information. Natasha looked at him and he did a slight nod which wasn’t noticeable to anyone but herself. Clint typed something on his phone and then sent it.

A few minutes passed by and suddenly everything was bright. It left all who were in the abandon building blind and confused. It was over before they knew it. Everyone was in cuffs in a matter of minutes. Clint and Natasha were taken back to base.

It took about fifteen minutes before their eyesight cleared up. Clint looked over at Tony. He really wanted to know what had happened. Tony knew the look that Clint gave him.

“The shipment left before we could find it. We are tracking it right now. We will get that shipment before it reaches its destination,” Tony told him. Natasha, who sat by Clint, put a hand on his arm.

“We will find them,” Natasha told him. She gave him a small smile.

“On the other hand, you just brought down one of the most dangerous people,” Tony told them.

“Yes, we did..”

“We’ve got the clean up. You guys go home and rest,” Tony told them. Clint gave Tony a smile and nod. Then he and Natasha left. They got in a car and drove off. Clint drove, and every now and again he glanced over at Natasha.

“Nat.”

Natasha looked over at Clint.  
  
“What’s up?”  
  
“Are you okay?” Clint asked her. He knew they had been through a lot. He wanted to make sure she was okay. Natasha paused for a second. Clint deserved an honest answer from her. Her emotions were all over the place.

“In all honesty I’m not, but in time I will be okay,” Natasha told him and then she sat back and looked out the window. Clint continued to drive. He knew things were starting to get back to normal. It would take some time before things were better.

 

**The End**


End file.
